 The National Broadcasting Company at its affiliated stations present the Pacific story. This is the story of the Pacific, the drama of the millions of people who live around this greatest sea, where the United States is now committed to a long-term policy of keeping the peace. This is the background story of the events in the Pacific, and their meaning to us and to the generations to come. Japan's Fisheries. What now? To count the Japanese fishing boats, large and small, you'd probably count about 300,000 of them. And if you'd gone to the trouble to find out where they fished, you'd find them in every part of the Pacific, the Arctic, the Antarctic, and the Indian Ocean. You'd find them in the waters of Alaska, off the coast of Mexico, down off the southern tip of Chile, up in Siberia, off the shore of Kamchatka, and down within sites, and sometimes nearer, of Australia. You'd find them in the Philippines. You'd find them among the islands of the Netherlands Indies, around Guam, around Malaya, the Gulf of Siam, the China Sea, and even in the Bay of Bengal. Pour them in! Now! The Japanese, for the reason for this widespread operation, he'd give you an answer. Are there are two reasons? Yes. First, Japan is an island nation. Japan is surrounded by water. No place in the islands is farther than 75 miles from salt water. There is not enough acreage to raise proteins. Therefore, we must take them from the sea. We must depend on fish to eat. Yes. And secondly, we must catch fish to export for cash. Food and cash. Before the war, of the 3 million persons engaged in fishing in the entire world, only one half were Japanese. Of all the fish taken from the sea in the entire world, nearly one-third were taken by the Japanese. Oh, you must remember, each Japanese eats about 30 ounces of fish a week. That's more than three times as much as the average American eats. The Japanese disposed of the rest of their catch to good advantage. They sold it, most of it, to the United States. And with the money built up their war machine. And besides, they used their hundreds of thousands of fishing boats as antennae of the Imperial Navy. Well, today the Japanese fishing fleets have been driven back to the waters of Japan. Disaster has crowned the 40 years of aggressive fishing, which started with the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. It started before that. So, Russians will tell you. It started with the dispute over the Kuril Islands and the island of Sakhalin, back in the middle of the last century. Yes, maybe that's right. After a long squabble, imperialist Russia and imperialist Japan signed a treaty in 1875. Oh, yes. Russia got the island of Sakhalin, and Japan got the chain of Kuril Islands. From that time on, there was trouble. But the real trouble did not come with the Japanese fisheries, until the Port Smoot Treaty was signed in 1907 at the close of the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese insisted that fishing rights be written into the treaty. Russia hereby agrees to arrange with Japan for granting for Japanese subject rights of fisheries along the coast of Russian possessions in the Japan Sea, the Sea of Ohatsk and the Bering Sea. This was the wedge. Russia was in no position to deny these fishing rights to the Japanese. The Japanese moved in and began their 40 years of encroachment, legal and illegal, which took her into millions of square miles of waters and brought her into conflict with nationals whose waters they violated over nearly half the globe. In the years between the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, the Japanese adhered fairly well to the fishery convention of 1907. But they were too alert to mistaking advantage of the Russian Revolution. Japan declares the fishing convention of 1907 a nerve and void. Henceforth, there will be free fishing. This meant that Russia being unable to stop the Japanese, the Japanese would fish wherever they pleased. And they did. Are fishing rights in our waters into their own hands? Yes, not protecting their fishermen with warships. With warships? Yes, protecting their fishing rights under the protection of the Japanese Imperial Army. It means that they will do what they wish and use both the army and navy to enforce their will. Fishing in our waters is one thing. But building canaries on the shore of Kamchatka, that is another thing. Yes. What can we do? Bloody Vostok and most of the eastern provinces of Siberia are controlled by the Allied intervention forces. I know. Including the Japanese. No. Nothing but work and weight. The Japanese fishing boats protected by warships swarmed over Siberian waters. The Soviets yelled, but could do nothing. The Japanese used every facility to exploit the fisheries. Even developed ideas of their own. Oh, you see, with this new machinery, this vessel is really a frothing, cunning factory. Uh-huh. With this, you'll be able to operate a good deal farther from Japan. Ah, yes. It is a matter of efficiency. I see. This is the first one we have developed. We will, of course, develop much bigger, steam-powered canary factories. If Russia ever forced the Japanese to take their canaries out of Kamchatka, the Japanese would be ready with floating canaries that could do the same job right in the middle of the fishing waters. And the floating canaries could go anywhere in the world. Well, meantime, something else was happening. At last, the Allied intervention forces moved out of Siberia. And though the Japanese force, which was bigger than all the other Allied intervention forces combined, tried to remain in Siberia, at last, this force was also obliged to get out. Soviet Russia then moved in to do something about the fishery situation. Effective at once, all treaties, concessions, and other agreements relating to fisheries and sea-hunting grounds are annulled. The fishing grounds, with some exceptions, will be leased at auction to citizens of the Soviet or to foreigners. The Soviet had called Japan's hand. Yes. They annulled the convention of 1907, which originally they forced upon Russia. Now we have annulled all agreements, and we will determine who will do the fishing in our waters. The fishing grounds or lots were rented at auction by the Russians, where the Japanese could fish, how much fish they could take, and the rental price for the fishing rights were set up by the Soviets. Japanese individuals bid against Russian individuals. The Japanese got 219 sea fisheries, and the Russians got 72. The Japanese were growing in power, but they realized that Russia was also growing in power. Accordingly, Japan agreed to recognize Soviet Russia, and Soviet Russia agreed to recognize Japan, and they further agreed to revise the Treaty of 1907, which the Japanese had first demanded and later had declared null and void. A new convention was signed in 1928. But this was on the diplomatic front. Other things were happening on other fronts. The Japanese are trying to develop a monopoly on the fisheries of the Far East. This, they must break. They will break. In 1928, we had 42 fishery companies here in the Far East. Today, two years later, we have 313. I will stop them. But we shall not stop with this 313 company. We will continue to develop companies until we have won what is rightfully the property of the people of Soviet Russia. The Japanese were no less determined. The next year, 1931, seamen in the Antarctic saw something no man had ever seen before. Well, blimey, what's that? That ship? Yes. It's a whaler. That's what I mean. But it's no kind of whaler. It's Japanese. Japanese whaler? Down here in the Antarctic. Whaling in the Antarctic is no business for Japanese. If I know the Japanese, that's just the first of the Japanese boats. From now on, we can expect to see them all over the Antarctic. Same as they're all over everywhere else. So, they're going to cut on on this field too. The Japanese knew what they were doing. When the war in Europe broke out, whale oil went up from 6 cents to 15 cents a pound. Japan sold almost every drop of whale oil she had or could get to Britain. The money Japan put into her war effort. Oh, you misunderstand. Japan needed the byproducts of our whaling industry. Or what? Well, we used the whale skin and the whale bones for fertilizer. Japan is always very much in need of fertilizer. And what about the whale leather? That, of course, was used for military equipment. The Japanese missed no bets. It was not the little individual Japanese fishermen who was profiting by these operations. All the Japanese whaling activity in the Antarctic was owned by one company, which also owned all the floating crab canneries in the northern seas. This was the Japan Marine Products Company. And this company, remember, the Japan Marine Products Company was controlled by the Manchurian Heavy Industries Corporation. The Russians knew. The same interest that controlled the fisheries controlled Japan's heavy industry. These industries brought in foreign exchange, which was used for buying materials of war. Because of this, these corporations were permitted to make enormous profit. So the Japanese government backed up the fishing operations of these corporations. So one corporation controlled all the whaling in Antarctica and all the crab fishing. Another controlled nearly all the salmon fishing in Soviet waters. By 1933, there were nine floating canneries off the shore of Kamchatka. But by this time, the Russians were making an out-and-out effort to regain control of their own resources in the waters of Siberia. Our Russia has refused to sign a new fishery convention with us. We will not move out of Kamchatka. They will not consider our request for a new long-term agreement of eight years. What do they offer? An extension of our present agreement for one year. No. They are determined to overtake and outstrip our fisheries. And at this, we will not permit. Can I tell them that we are prepared to protect our legitimate fishery activities in Kamchatka with warships? No. But we are. Are we not? We are. The fishing dispute became a matter for consideration by the highest echelon of officials, both Russian and Japanese. Russia cannot consider signing any agreement with Japan until Japan is fulfilled at least of its obligations to the Soviet Union. The payment of the money with Japan owes to Soviet Russia for the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria. The Soviet Union must be aware that it is violating its fisheries obligation. Japan must be aware that it still owes the Soviet Union the last payment for the Chinese Eastern Railway. And also, Japan is committing infractions by maintaining troops in Manchuria and fortifying La Peruse Strait. The bickering went on. Russia refused to move. She would agree only to an extension of one year of the fishing convention. Meantime, Japanese fishermen were hauling in fish all over the map in enormous quantities. And most valuable of all was the salmon catch, which brought them into direct conflict with Alaska fishermen. They claimed that crabfish is catching. Then why are they anchored right there at the mouth of the river right now during the salmon run? Is that just a coincidence? That's all they say. Is it a coincidence that they're also anchored at the mouth of the other rivers? They're anchored. They're poaching on American fishing waters. That's what they're doing. Not only that, Captain. Unless I miss my guess, they're also making studies of the Aleutian Island. Mr. Warburton, take half a dozen men in a boat. Go over to that crab cannery and call him the captain. Tell him in the plainest words you know that if he doesn't up anchor and clear out of here, that he's going to have trouble. Shall we go armed? I leave that to your discretion, Mr. Warburton. Yes, sir. I'm headed for the Japanese vessel. Head for the starboard side, Miloni. The ladder may be on that side. Aye-aye. That's one man on deck. They're watching us from the port hose. There's no ladder on this side either. I've seen their boats out. They must have taken it up. Pull in close there. Aye-aye. Watch it now, Mr. Warburton. I'm coming in close. You up for it there. Hold it off with that boat hook. Don't let it bump up there. Okay. Hello up there. There's probably a couple of hundred Japanese in this vessel. There's some someplace. Hold on the captain of your ship. Drop the ladder open. We bring the compliments of the captain of the American ship. We might as well go back. They're not going to get out of these waters until they're driven out. We're going up all along the Alaska coast. Along the chain of Aleutians. Down among the thousands of Philippine islands. Around Guam. Some of them were in small boats. Some were in boats of 100 tons or more. Some were in full-sized ships. Soviet Russia had her trouble with the Japanese fishermen. Now the United States was also having it. The boldness of the Japanese disarmed all who came in contact with them. They said little, but ignored all efforts to get them out. And in the United States, as in Russia, the matter of fishing rights ultimately became a state matter between the United States and Japan. Now let it be clearly understood that the government of the United States considers the 180th meridian as the final boundary line between the United States and Japan. The 180th meridian is approximately in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And let it be understood that we consider every drop of water up to this line as American water. The United States cannot paint these stars and stripes on the back of every fish in the Pacific Ocean. No. And neither can Japan paint the rising sun on them. This was several years before Pearl Harbor. Steps were being taken to ensure the Japanese would never again raid the salmon waters off Alaska. But there was still another angle. Seals. In 1911, Japan, along with the United States, Britain and Russia, signed a convention for the protection of seals. The convention ran for 15 years and then was automatically extended until one party should give a year's notice of intention to abrogate the treaty. A fact that one year from this date, October 23, 1940, Japan will no longer adhere to the seal convention. The convention has done an effective job in preserving the herds of seals in the Pacific. A total effect if a job. The seal herds have grown to such size these years that they are feeding on fish which is necessary to the rife of Japan. The seals are actually reducing the Japanese catch of fish? Yes. As of October 23, 1941, Japan will no longer be a party of the seal convention. This meant that the Japanese would kill the seals at will, wherever they could. The United States made a proposal. Two things can be done. Either the size of the seal herds can be reduced, thereby eating less fish, or we will undertake to make a study and determine the exact situation. The Japanese were not interested. The seals were in danger of extermination. The United States fitted out a ship with special equipment and sent a staff of experts aboard it to study the migration and feeding habits of the seals. The ship was sailing up the coast of California when the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor. The ship put into port. From that day, Japan's aggressive fisheries policy was doomed. The sea, where hundreds of thousands of Japanese fishing vessels had roamed, became a battleground. For all practical purposes, the fishing fleet became part of the Imperial Navy. All pelagic fishing were from this date beyond the state control. That meant all fishing far from shores. The 9,000 vessels engaged in pelagic fishing and the 120,000 fishermen aboard them are, as of the date, answerable directly to the government. These vessels totaled 200,000 tons and they knew every inch of the Pacific from the Arctic to the Antarctic from the coasts of North and South America to the Bay of Bengal. In Soviet waters alone, the Japanese had 142 vessels manned by 20,000 men all protected by the Japanese Navy. I-604 reporting from Kamchatka. 604 reporting from Kamchatka. Royal American cargo vessel heavily eroded heading for port of Petropavrov. Royal American vessel heavily eroded heading for port of Petropavrov. The Japanese fishermen reported everything through a regularly organized intelligence service. The fishery guild in Russian waters. But before the war in the Pacific had gone long, the Russians began to cut down on the so-called fishing rights of the Japanese in Soviet waters. For years, the Japanese had called the turn. Now, though Russia was also fighting for its life, Russia was calling the turn. The number of fishing grounds auctioned to the Japanese will be reduced. In effective 1942, the cash rentals for the fisheries will be raised 20%. Effective 1943, the cash rentals for the Japanese fisheries will be raised 25% more. Effective 1944, the cash rentals for the Japanese fisheries will be raised 6% more. Effective at once. All Japanese fishermen and all Japanese workers in the canneries and aboard vessels are excluded from the east coast of Kamchatka. But it was not only in Soviet waters that the Japanese fishermen were having trouble. As the allies closed in on the lands and waters stolen by the Japanese, more and more Japanese fishing vessels were driven from the sea. Less and less fish went back to Japan for food. And Japan was almost entirely cut off from income from the sale of fish and seafood. Look at that. A harbor full of fishing boats and anchor and not a drop of gasoline to run. It is all useless to complain. Herpes with us are safe. How much fish can we catch with a smack with only sea? We are used to fish with a sailboat. Most of us. It is like using our hats for nets. There is no gasoline for the motorboats. If we are to live, we must fit out every boat we can with sails. Yeah. Hold this line tight. How far can we go with this sailboat? We are lucky to go out at all. What are those? The harbors blockaded by mines dropped by enemy airplanes. Yeah. They cannot even get out of their harbors. The harbors are filled with mines. The minesweepers are sweeping them up. But every day a fishing boat is blown to pieces. Pull now. As long as we can fish, we must fish in any way we can. Why can't we not get gasoline for our engines? I know nothing of sails. There is no gasoline. How are you getting along with that sail? It will be ready in an hour. You will have to hurry. Here, I will help you. Yes. You will have to sail as soon as we get it fixed. The government is moving all fishing smacks and small whaling ruggers in this vicinity up into Tokyo Bay. Yes. We can have the sail ready in an hour. But the rigging... There is no time to lose. Fishing vessels are being destroyed wherever they are found by the enemy. By warships? By warships and by airplanes. Besides, the government says that there are four times as many fish in Tokyo Bay now than ever before. Four times? Or what? I do not know. But we must fish close to land and we must fish where there are fish and where we have the greatest protection. No, let us get this boat ready. What is that? It is a sari. Ah, it's a sari. Aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, aoi, Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah! We are coming, we are coming. What are they? They are doing a job over there! Get down! Get down! Calling Japanese fishing vessels at a staggering rate, and as the tempo of the Allied operations in the vicinity of Japan expands, large numbers of fishing vessels are being blasted out of the sea by surface units as well as by airplanes. With the loss of each fishing vessel, the Japanese people are being deprived of their main source of food. The Allied advance, stretching the thousands of miles from the waters of the Aleutians, down through the waters of the islands of Japan itself, down through the China Sea to the waters of the Dutch Indies, shattered the Japanese fishing fleet. Within Japan, with their supply of fresh fish seriously curtailed, the Japanese ate fish meals, similar to the products fed to poultry and livestock in the United States. They ate with wheat flour and silkworms and locusts. The fishing operations that had extended from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and from the coast of Chile to South America to the coast of India in the Bay of Bengal, were done and over. Japan had collapsed. The days of bold Japanese fishermen taking salmon, cod and quail from the waters of Alaska, tuna from the waters of the Philippines and Malaya, bonito from the waters of Guam and the Dutch East Indies, all this was ended. And almost immediately, steps were taken to control future fishing operations of the Japanese. All that part of the North American continent, which continues after the land meets the ocean, until it falls away into the sea, will have to be considered the property of the United States. Claim to this continental shelf was made by the President of the United States. All the fishing in the 750,000 square miles of the ocean above the continental shelf will be under the jurisdiction of the United States. This meant that should the Japanese ever again raid the salmon waters off Alaska, they would be legally encroaching on the territory of the United States. And the Russians have taken similar measures. The so-called Japanese fishing rights in Soviet waters will be liquidated. For one thing, the Potsdam Declaration stated that the Russians would occupy the Kuril Islands. Therefore, Soviet Russia flatly claimed the Kurils and the fishing waters around them. Also, the entire island of Sakhalin and its fishing waters. So today, what is left of Japan's fishing fleets have been driven back to the waters of Japan. But Japan's millions must still eat and fish is still their most important food. Japan must be helped to be self-sufficient. This is part of the United Nations long-range policy. The exact scope of Japanese fisheries must now be decided. It is certain, first of all, that some fishery resources must be protected. No nation must ever again be permitted to fish as the Japanese have fished for the last 40 years. Secondly, the three-mile limit alone is not adequate protection of fishery resources. And thirdly, some protection must be set up which would apply not only to Japan but to all nations. So, world diplomats are mulling over the problem of the best way to manage the fisheries of the Pacific and all the world. And I suggest the International Fisheries Office manufacture or manage the fisheries of the entire world. In effect, this would be a world government for the control of all fisheries in all the oceans of the Earth. This is the nature of the thinking on the vital problem of fisheries today. And from this thinking may emerge a way not only of providing adequate food for those who need it and to prevent selfish exploitation but also a way of working toward a world government. You have been listening to the Pacific Story presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross currents of life in the Pacific basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send 10 cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The Pacific Story is written and directed by Arnold Marquess. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso. Your narrator, Gain Whitman. Programs in this series of particular interest to servicemen and women are broadcast overseas to the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Rating Center and the National Broadcasting Company. The Pacific Story is written and directed by Arnold Marquess. It is broadcast overseas to the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Radio Service. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.